IT IS an illness that affects thousands of people on Tyneside, but one no-one wants to talk about.

In Newcastle alone there are 2,894 people known to be suffering from Alzheimer’s disease, or dementia. Of those, 998 are women and 1,896 men.

But their families often suffer in silence before they get help, as many still believe the illness is a taboo subject.

This weekend and next, to mark World Alzheimer’s Awareness Day, a series of Memory Walks will raise money for sufferers and their carers.

Today, a loving husband who has watched his wife succumb to the cruel condition has opened his heart to the Chronicle in the hope more people will understand what sufferers and their carers go through.

Vera Moat, 66, lived with Alzheimer’s for around nine years before the condition was finally diagnosed.

He said: “When the first symptoms started 16 years ago nobody would believe me when I said something was wrong, but I didn’t really understand it myself.

“She was doing silly things like leaving the cooker on and the doors open. She would sometimes go to the paper shop and forget to pay, or would just wander around the streets and not know where she was.”

Vera was working as a cleaner when the symptoms first appeared. Neither George nor their three daughters ever suspected Alzheimer’s, as she was otherwise healthy.

“The doctors picked up on it straight away,” George continued. “But when they said it was Alzheimer’s I was really worried because I didn’t know anything about it.”

George and Vera live together at an Anchor Trust home in Blakelaw, Newcastle. They moved from their previous home in West Denton when George found he could no longer cope at home alone.

As Vera’s condition has deteriorated, George has realised they might not be able to live together for much longer.

“Vera is still physically fit and has more energy than I do, but she can’t speak any more and I have to feed her and wash her.

“We just wanted to stay together and I would still like to stay with her, but she needs more care than I can give. I’m looking for somewhere she can go where there will be specialist help.”

But after 46 years of marriage George is determined to stick by his wife.

“She can’t talk any more. She thinks she’s talking to me but I can’t make it out. It is so hard for me because I don’t know what she wants. If I knew what she wanted I would give it to her if I could,” he said.

“She still knows I’m there for her. And it’s really important to me to make sure I’m always there for her. There is still a flicker of the woman I married there.”

In the North East, Memory Walks will be held at Hexham Racecourse, Hexham; Solway House, Newcastle; St Mary’s Lighthouse, Whitley Bay; Newcastle Quayside; and the Seaburn Centre, Sunderland; Grangewood Care Centre, Shiney Row; and Allensford Country Park, in County Durham.

North East actor Kevin Whately is an ambassador for the Alzheimer’s Society, and is urging people to take part in a walk.